Retail Roundup: Shah's Halal to open two more locations on Long Island

Shah’s Halal Food will be serving up falafels and gyros in more places on Long Island this year.

The 12-restaurant chain plans to open two more locations — in Hauppauge — in 2019, said Khalid Mashriqi, co-owner.

Business has been good for the chain, which started with a pushcart in Richmond Hill, Queens, in 2005.

“I would say quality food, affordable prices and good customer service” are the draws, said Mashriqi, 35, of Fresh Meadows, Queens.

One of the Shah’s Halal restaurants planned for Hauppauge will open in a 2,500-square-foot space at 694 Motor Pkwy. in Motor Parkway Plaza by Nov. 1, he said. The other eatery will be in renovated space at 586 Veterans Memorial Hwy. in Hauppauge Plaza.

That will be a 2,000-square-foot space, but building permits are needed from the Town of Islip, said Thomas Rettaliata, a managing partner in the Jericho office of Ripco Real Estate LLC, which represented the tenant and landlord.

Mashriqi expects the restaurant to open by the end of the year.

Shah’s Halal’s headquarters are in Jamaica, Queens, but 10 of the chain’s 12 restaurants are on Long Island, including sites in Lindenhurst, Bellmore, New Hyde Park and Wantagh. The other two are in Rockland County and Richmond Hill.

Aside from the two Hauppauge spots in the works, two additional Shah’s Halal restaurants are planned, for Boston. One will open this month, and the other will open early next year, Mashriqi said.

“We’re currently licensing and looking to expand and go nationwide,” he said.

Also, a Shah’s Halal food truck will begin operating at Adelphi University in Garden City on Aug. 26. The business already has a food truck at Colindale Tube Station in London and one at the University of California, Davis.

The word “halal” means “permissible” in Arabic. Halal food is prepared according to Islamic law.

Menu items at Shah’s Halal include rice topped with chicken, lamb, falafel or fish, and gyros made with chicken or lamb.

The business produces its own products at a facility in Jamaica, Queens, regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and then distributes them to the restaurants, Mashriqi said. Shah’s Halal is looking for a production site on Long Island, he said.

“The quality of our food is very important to us,” he said.

He declined to disclose annual sales data.

Retail Roundup is a column about major retail news on Long Island — store openings, closings, expansions, acquisitions, etc. — that is published online and in the Monday paper. To read more of these columns, click here. If you have news to share, please send an email to Newsday reporter Tory N. Parrish at tory.parrish@newsday.com.

By Tory N. Parrish

tory.parrish@newsday.comToryParrish1

Tory N. Parrish covers retail and small business for Newsday. She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y.